Cheese at the end of the world

So after deciding to head into Oregon via the middle of the state instead of the coast (which we decided to tour when the weather is more conducive to beach combing), the weather quickly turned against us. As I’ve said before, as soon as the nighttime weather starts being consistently under about 40 degrees it’s time to look for warmer weather! However, there was one thing in Oregon that we were bound and determined to see before heading south….the Tillamook Cheese Factory! Carl and I have wanted to make cheese for a long long time. We have just never been in the position to actually DO it! So it just made sense for us to head up to the cheese factory and take a tour to see how the big guys do it! Plus we love to eat cheese and you get free samples 🙂

The kids were kind of dragging their feet on this one, but sometimes you just gotta kick ’em in the tush and get a move on! The weather wasn’t the prettiest, but the drive up to the factory was to die for. I mean edge of your seat, don’t blink, jaw dropping beautiful.

Oregon coast

At the factory we were totally surprised to find that they make it very easy to drive in to their lot in a camper. It had easy turn arounds and a large parking lot….which was quite long as we made a mad dash through the rain to get to the front door! Of course I made the kids stand still for a photo!

And poor poor Grace…I forced her to do this photo too…how horrible am I!

Here is Carl with Sy overlooking the packaging part of the factory.

At the end of the tour we all got a chance to try out some cheese. One thing we were excited to try was what they call Squeaky Cheese. It’s just cheese curd with a fun name….it actually squeaks when you chew it! As you can see, Sy was very anxious to be a taste tester 🙂

We enjoyed touring the facility and watching the activity that goes on at the plant. However, we also realized how lucky we were to NOT have a job like that….to instead be lucky enough to do what we do and see all that we are blessed to see.

After being in Tillamook Oregon for about two days we beat feet in a southerly direction towards some warmer weather! All I can say is that I sure am glad that Carl was there to drive us….we went through some mountains and snow 🙂